Dinners this week have pretty much consisted of one of two things – Mama Pea’s noodle salad or BALT (bacon avocado lettuce and tomato) wraps. .

I could use leftovers to whip up a slightly different twist on the meal so we don’t have to eat the same thing more than once during the week. Yet some meals are simply so perfect they are worth repeating.

Besides fresh salads, I always think of sandwiches or wraps as a perfect summer dinner. A honking (that’s for you Brittany!) piece of grilled corn on the side adds that special touch so you feel like you cooked a masterpiece, when really you just tossed some things in a round piece of bread and called it good. Tomato? Good. Lettuce? Good. Bacon? Good! Avocado? Goooood! And, no it does not taste like feet. <---- Name that reference! 😉

Sadly, this meal has had to retire as we are now out of bacon. Sadly, Peter took the last little serving of Mama Pea noodles to lunch with him. Sadly, I will now need to cook again. Time to hunt for another meal worth repeating!

*insert the smoothest of smooth topic transitions here* 😉

Last week I received a particular question from Victoria @ District Chocoholic. She asked how I believe my 20 minutes of daily prayer time affects my health and overall well-being. Where can I even begin? Let’s see if I can express this adequately. And never fear – preaching is not my style. I hope you won’t skip to the end of this post or close your browser. Can you listen to why? Please. Thank you and big hugs!

If you’re here, I assume you enjoy blogs. Reading blogs. Writing blogs. Connecting with bloggers. I also assume you find an interest in healthy living and possibly fitness goals. You have these goals for a healthy lifestyle and you want support, accountability, encouragement, and new relationships revolving around this interest. In order to achieve those things, you check in with blogs through either writing your own posts, reading others’ posts, messaging on Twitter, posting stats to Daily Mile, etc, etc, etc. You dig?

My prayer time is pretty much the exact same thing, but for my faith, how I live my life, and the way I view my life. It’s a time to check-in and receive encouragement, love, and support from the most inspirational dude out there. Yea, I called God “dude”. We’re tight like that.

Before allowing faith into my life, I was a prisoner to myself. I constantly worried about every little thing. I hated my existence and saw no worth or value in my being. I could not find joy because I couldn’t see the bigger picture of life. My faith freed me. Not religion – faith! (Big difference in my opinion!) It gave me the freedom of peace because I have a God I can trust. It gave me the freedom of love because I could finally see my worth and the worth in others. It gave me the freedom of dreams because I could finally recognize my passions as having a purpose. Faith is not about commandments and rules. It’s about freedom. Freedom to lead a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (aka the fruits of the Spirit).

I don’t ever want to forget the night and day difference between my life before faith and after that relationship. Just as you would always want to stay in touch with a dear friend or loved one, I make my time every day to stay in touch with the dearest of loves in my life. Because without Him I seriously fear where I would be right now. Or if I would even be.

My prayer time brings overall well-being because it keeps me grounded, humble, honest, and thankful. It keeps me centered on the important things in life. It keeps me moving forward with that zest for life I hope to reflect. All of those things which undeniably make life worthwhile. That make life worth living. That inspire a healthy lifestyle so I can live that life out to the absolute fullest. I want to suck out every drop…and hanging out with my dude man gives me just what I need to make that happen.

• Are you a fan of leftovers? Do you doctor them up or eat them the same way?
• Does a time of prayer/meditation/reflection/etc improve your health?
• Of Possible Interest: I shared a post on Abs: Function Over Appearance at Fitblogger this week! Check it out.

I first want to say thank you to those of you showing support for me as a Fitfluential ambassador! I wouldn’t have the chance, or guts, to reach for any of my goals without your support. You all are so awesome! If you missed it this morning – and think I would make a good fit to represent my area - feel free to keep the support coming now. 🙂

Back to Body After Baby…

Braedon turns 6 months old on Monday. Another four weeks have passed since my last check-in and update on the Body After Baby progress. Those four weeks included quite a lot of excitement – picking up half marathon training, a week long vacation to the beach, and officially stepping out to begin personal training certification. Despite a busy month with quite a few out of the norm events and occasional added stress, I put in effort to remain consistent with my eating habits, workouts, and self-care.

Yet again, consistency makes little changes that add up over time.

Month 6 Progress Pictures (Month 5 on left, Month 6 on right)

Boy I look sleepy in my recent pictures! Hahaha!

Month 6 Progress Stats

I didn’t expect to see much change this month. Not only because of a vacation, but also because I know I’m very close to the goal I had set out to achieve. I managed to get back into my goal jeans after all! So where do I go from here?

For starters, I am retiring the scale again. I think it worked great as a tool to help me lose the baby weight. Now, I feel I have done that and don’t want to find myself caught up in trying to reach some arbitrary number or lose more more more. I maintained a healthy relationship with the scale, but also don’t see a need for it from here on out where simply knowing my body and noting how clothes fit will provide enough information for my current goals with my body.

I plan to focus on my half marathon training and keeping consistent with regular workouts.

I plan to focus on maintaining healthy eating habits.

I also plan on continuing my monthly progress check-ins with photos and measurements. Mainly because I planned to document my body and how it changes the first year post-pregnancy and I want to follow through with a full year’s experience. I want to continue to share this journey with you all. I also believe my body will continue to change over the remainder of the year as I challenge myself with new fitness goals and workouts. I want to document these possible changes as a natural part of my lifestyle, beyond the “lose the baby weight / get back in shape” goal.

In short, I know I have achieved my original goals and what I set out to do. I have reached my “happy place”. However, the healthy lifestyle doesn’t end. Consistency will continue to make little changes that add up to the happiest, fittest, and most energized quality of life and self I will continue to grow to see. I feel there now, but that doesn’t mean my decisions and habits won’t  keep building upon that solid foundation. So where do I go from here? I live. The healthy lifestyle I adore.

• What do you usually do when you meet a goal? I usually find a new goal to work towards (half marathon training, personal training certification!) but still focus on building the habits and actions that helped me achieve previous goals.